THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST

PART 3: EMPEROR CONSTANTINE AND THE DARK AGES

Each of the essential characteristics of Christ’s Church described earlier were drastically altered or had completely vanished in the turbulent years of apostasy that followed. These changes came about because of attacks upon the Church from three directions:1) Christians were branded as traitors by the government of the Emperor Nero starting about 64 A.D. and were blamed for the burning of Rome. Wholesale massacres resulted and the saints were forced to go underground. 2) With the introduction of Greek philosophy and mysteries plus gnostic, pagan, and Jewish influences, the Church “was tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). A completely foreign concept of God and his plan of salvation resulted.3) Jealousies, intrigue and personal ambitions resulted in the rise of scholars and intellectuals in the leadership of the organization. They became self-appointed authorities on scriptural interpretation and doctrine. There was no longer agreement on doctrine and practices. The nature of God was heatedly debated and many non-scriptural ideas were introduced.During this time, the church was no longer called The Church of Jesus Christ. In A.D. 112, Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, coined the phrase, the “catholic” church, meaning the “universal” church. From that time on it was so designated.

The position of the Catholic church is that the apostle Peter bestowed apostolic authority upon Linus, a bishop of Rome and that it has continued through a succession of popes to the present time. But many theologians dispute this claim for several reasons. They contend that there is no mention of a transfer of apostolic authority by Peter to Linus anywhere in holy scripture nor in any letters or writings of the other apostles or any other writers who lived during the time of the apostles or soon thereafter. Further, there is no record of the first several popes having claimed any apostolic authority. Historically, the claim first appears in a treatise called Adversus Haeresus by Ireaneus, the bishop of Lyon, circa A.D. 180, about 100 years after the transfer of power from Peter to Linus is said to have taken place. (Encyclopedia Biblica)

Another reason that the claim is questioned revolves around the matter of the apostle John. John was still living during this time, exiled to the Isle of Patmos. While there, John received the Book of Revelation—a standard book in all Christian bibles. If Linus was the head of the Church, succeeding Peter, why didn't that book of scripture come through Linus? Why did it come through John, an apostle in exile?

Back to our chronology of Christian events. After about 250 years, persecution subsided and the church began to grow once again, due to the popularity of the pagan views and practices now flourishing in the church. The Roman emperor Constantine, a political opportunist, having fought a long civil war, and noting the increasing popularity of Christianity, in 325 A.D. declared the Catholic church to be the state imperial church with the view that it would help him solidify his empire.

Constantine was not a Christian, but a sun worshipper. He had no ecclesiastical authority and claimed none. But he was all powerful politically. He killed or banished many of the leaders who disagreed with him and installed those of his choosing. Constantine now presided over all church officers. A successor, Theodocius, decreed Catholicism to be the only legal form of religious worship that would be permitted. The church became wealthy and powerful.

The Nicene Creed, initiated by Constantine, undertook to define the nature of God in such a way that it would satisfy the warring factions of the Catholic church. The result was the Doctrine of the Trinity. Some years later, the Athanasian Creed was developed to try to clarify the Nicene Creed. Members were asked to accept the creed on faith alone as an “incomprehensible” mystery (its own word). It remains such among most Catholic and Protestant churches in our day.

The divine characteristics of the original Church of Jesus Christ were replaced by man-made features and practices. Revelation was replaced by politics. The philosophy of men replaced much of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. Pomp and ceremony replaced the simple worship services and ordinances of the original Church .

The new, non-scriptural doctrines put in place by uninspired officials included: original sin, baptism by sprinkling or pouring, infant baptism, purgatory and limbo, prayers for the dead, the immaculate conception, the infallibility of popes, transubstantiation, supererogation, and extreme unction, to name but a few. New ceremonies and elements also appeared including: prayers to Mary, the worship of statues, the use of candles, the sacrifice of the mass, the crucifix and other icons, rosary beads, and the sale of indulgences. There is no scriptural evidence that any of these had part in the primitive Church as Christ had established it.

From the fall of the Roman Empire in A.D. 476 to the 1300’s the lamp of learning was extinguished; intellectual life in Europe vanished; illiteracy flourished; there was incessant warfare; corruption permeated every part of the church; diseases were rampant. The single most devastating blow to the integrity of the church was the abuse of priestly authority and trust. In his book, A World Lit Only By Fire, William Mansfield describes the church leaders of this period as “the least Christian of men: the least devout, least scrupulous, least compassionate, and among the least chaste—lechers almost without exception. Ruthless in their pursuit of political power and personal gain, they were medieval despots who used their holy office for blackmail and extortion.”

St. Bernard of Clairvaux had cause to remark: “Who will give me to see before I die the Church of God as in days of old when the apostles spread their nets to take not gold or silver but the souls of men.” (John P. Dolan, History of the Reformation)

John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church in England and one of the later reformers, said this: "It does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit were common in the church for more than two or three centuries. We seldom hear of them after that fatal period when the emperor Constantine called himself a Christian. From this time they almost totally ceased; The Christians had no more of the Spirit of Christ than the other heathens. This was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian church—because the Christians were turned heathens again, and only had a dead form left." (Wesley's Works, vol. 7, 89: 26, 27).